Staying in the theme of observing past drafts, I figured it would be relevant to take a look at the Chiefs’ first-round picks over the years. Initially I was going to highlight the last 10, but decided to do the last 12 since Kansas City still has active players from the 2005 and 2006 drafts.

Here are the Chiefs’ last 12 draft picks in the first round:

Year

Player

Position

School

Notes

2015

Marcus Peters

CB

Washington

2x Pro Bowler
1x 1st-team All Pro
1x 2nd-team All Pro
NFL DROTY

2014

Dee Ford

Edge

Auburn

2013

Eric Fisher

OT

Central Michigan

2012

Dontari Poe

DT

Memphis

2x Pro Bowler
1x 2nd-team All Pro

2011

Jon Baldwin

WR

Pittsburgh

2010

Eric Berry

S

Tennessee

5x Pro Bowler
3x 1st-team All Pro
NFLCPOTY

2009

Tyson Jackson

DE

LSU

2008

Glenn Dorsey

DL

LSU

2008

Branden Albert

OT

Virginia

1x Pro Bowler w/ KC
1x Pro Bowler w/ Miami

2007

Dwayne Bowe

WR

LSU

1x Pro Bowler
1x 2nd-team All Pro

2006

Tamba Hali

Edge

Penn State

5x Pro Bowler
2x 2nd-team All Pro
All Rookie team in ’06

2005

Derrick Johnson

ILB

Texas

4x Pro Bowler
1x 1st-team All Pro
1x 2nd-team All Pro

The first thing I found interesting from this list is that, although not all of these players are currently on the Chiefs, 10 of the 12 will still be playing in 2017. The two that won’t be (barring a miracle) are Dwayne Bowe and Jon Baldwin.

I’m unsure what the statistics are on each team’s first round picks still being active, but I’m guessing the average is lower than 83 percent, which is the Chiefs’ percentage.

The fact that this many of KC’s first round picks since 2005 are still active makes me think that the Chiefs have drafted relatively well in the first round over the years, despite having three different general managers since 2005.

Guys like Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey are looked at as busts — and that may be true since they didn’t live up to full potential — but those guys are still playing after almost a decade of being in the NFL. Not many players can say they’ve played in their 30s. In Jackson’s case, he was an occasional starter for the Atlanta Falcons and played in Super Bowl LI.

Other things of note I took away from this list are that there are 20 Pro Bowl appearances among these players (21 if you include Albert’s appearance with Miami). There are also 11 All-Pro team appearances. Also, while Dee Ford and Eric Fisher have yet to garner any accolades, they are still good players that are getting better each season.

Overall, when I look at this list I realize that the Chiefs have done well at drafting in the first round as of late, especially under GM John Dorsey. They’ve also done one heck of a job at drafting defensive players in the first, so it may be a good idea to continue that trend.

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